September 2014 Current Affairs List

Manufacturing growth in the eurozone dropped to 13-month low in August as the Markit compiledPurchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing sector dropped to 50.7 in August compared to 51.8 in July. Any reading higher than 50 indicates growth. PMI dropped for two largest economies in euro zone; the factory PMI for Germany dropped to an 11-month low of 51.4 while for France it dropped to 46.9 in the same month.

Now the entire region will wait for the European Central Bank (ECB) meeting scheduled to be held on Thursday for further direction. ECB has to take some necessary steps to boost growth and remove fear of possible deflation.

Manufacturing growth in the China dropped marginally in August as thePurchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for manufacturing sector dropped to 51.1 in August compared to 51.7 in July, as per the data published by the National Bureau of Statistics. Any reading higher than 50 indicates growth. Drop in manufacturing activity raises concern about the world-s second largest economy.

Carolina Marin became the first from Spain to win World Badminton Championship on 31stAugust at the World Badminton Championship held in Copenhagen, Denmark. Carolina won women-s singles titles by defeating world number one Li Xuerui of china whileChina-s Chen Long won the men-s singles titles of the World Badminton Championships.

Current Affairs India - 1 September 2014

Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala was sworn in as the 17th Governor of Karnataka today as he was administered the oath of office by the Chief Justice of Karnataka D H Waghela. Vajubhai Vala replaces Tamil Nadu Governor Mr K Rosaiah who was holding the additional charge after Governor Hans Raj Bhardwaj completed his term in June this year.

Former Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam will be appointed as the Governor of Kerala after former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit resigned from the post last week. He served as the Chief Justice of India from 2007-14.

Famous Telugu artist, filmmaker and humourist Sattiraju Lakshminarayana, popularly known as Bapu, passed away in Chennai. He was 80. He and his long-time friend Mullapudi Venkata Ramana made some of the memorable works in Telugu literary world and film industry. He directed films such as Mutyala Muggu, Pelli Pustakam and Sampoorna Ramayanam.

Eight core sector growth dropped to 2.7% in July due to negative growthin crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers and steel sectors. This is much lower compared to 5.3% growth in the same month last year. During April-July period of current financial year, the eight core sectors grew by 4.1% compared to 4.1% in the same period last year.

Crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers and steel recorded a negative growth of 1%, 9%, 5.5%, 4.2% and 3.4% respectively in July which pulled down the overall core sector growth. However, coal, cement and electricity production grew by 6.2%, 16.5% and 11.2% respectively in the same month.

Indian badminton player PV Sindhu settled for her second bronze at the World Badminton Championship as she was defeated by Carolina Marin of Spain in straight games at the semifinals on 30thAugust.

The Jaipur Pink Panthers, defeated U Mumba by 35-24 to win the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League at NSCI's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium on 31stAugust. The score was 18-14 after first half while second half was completely dominated by the Jaipur Pink Panthers.

New Delhi-s Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung announced the decision to appoint wrestler Sushil Kumar as the Sports Brand Ambassador of Delhi Government last week. He also doubled sports budget for the capital to Rs 44 lakh.

Jung announced this at a felicitation ceremony of the medal winners from the national capital region in the 2014 Commonwealth Games held at Glasgow recently. Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt and Amit Dahiya won the gold medal in the 2014 Commonwealth Games while The silver medals bagged by Bajrang Kumar, Rajiv Tomar, Shreyasi Singh and bronze medals bagged by Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Pawan Kumar.2-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 2 September 2014

Nalanda University in Bihar's Rajgir district was reopened after nearly 800 years as it started its first academic session yesterday. The ancient education institution was destroyed nearly 800 years ago.The University started its first session 2014-15 with the classes for the School of Ecology and Environmental Studies and the School of Historical Studies.

At present, the University has 10 faculty members. Gopa Sabharwal has been appointed as the Nalanda University Vice-Chancellor and Economist and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has been appointed as the Chairman of the Governing Body of the university.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced a number of changes in bonds issued under Basel III international banking norms to make it easier for banks to raise capital and make such bonds attractive for investors.

As part of the changes, the minimum maturity period of such bonds have been reduced and banks have been allowed to tap retail investors. RBI has now allowed banks to issue any kind of papers to retail investors, including tier-I bonds and tier-II perpetual bonds. Earlier banks were not allowed to issue tier-I bonds to retail investors.The RBI has alsohas reduced the minimum duration after which call options are permissible in perpetual debt instruments from 10 to five years to make it more popular among retail investors. The minimum maturity of Tier-II debt instruments has also been reduced from 10 to five years.

Kolkata based United Bank of India has declared debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines and its owner Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulters as they failed to repay the loans. Three Kingfisher Airlines Ltd directors A.K. Ganguly, Subhash Gupte and Ravi Nedungadi were also declared as wilful defaulters.

Post this declaration, it will be difficult for UB Group companies to secure any loan or bank finance from any banks. Banks will now initiate criminal proceedings against Mallya and force him to quit company boards.

American Express Banking Corp (AEBC), India, Indian unit of American Express, has appointed Manoj Adlakha as Chief Executive Officer. He replaced Shailesh Baidwan and will be responsible for running American Express' proprietary consumer card and prepaid businesses in India. Before this, Manoj had over the last five years led the American Express Corporate Business.

Famous Kathak dancer Maya Rao passed away following a massive cardiac arrest in Bangalore yesterday. She was 86.She was known for her mastery over abhinaya and dance ballet and she also helped the dance form Kathak to gain popularity in South India. She was recipient of the National Award for Choreography.

NATO summit,the largest gathering of international leaders ever to take place, has started inWales in UK from 4thto 5thSeptember 2014. This will be the first NATO summit since Chicago in 2012, and the first NATO summit in the United Kingdom since Margaret Thatcher welcomed NATO leaders to London in 1990.

More than 60 world leaders, including US President Barack Obama and British PM David Cameron, are attending the summit.

The US economy added 142,000 jobs in August, as per the latest details published by the labor department.The unemployment rate dropped marginally to 6.1% in August compared to 6.2% in July. This data confirms improvement of US job market with stable growth.

Current Affairs India - 5 September 2014

Teachers' day is being observed today (5thSeptember) across the nation that also remembers the birthday of India's finest teacher, famous philosopher and 2ndPresident of independent India Dr.Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. The day is used to organize different events across the country to honour teachers across the nation.

India and Australia has signed a significant civil nuclear agreement in presence of Prime Ministers of both the countries which will allow Uranium rich Australia to supply uranium to India. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott is now in India for his visit and met Indian Prime Minister today to discuss other ways to enhance cooperation in key areas of security and trade.

The nuclear deal will form a high point in the ongoing transformation of India-Australia relations. The efforts to sign civil nuclear deal were underway since 2012 after Labour party in Australia reversed its decision to ban the sale of uranium to India because of New Delhi not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT.

Former chief justice of India (CJI) P. Sathasivam was sworn in as the new Governor of Kerala today morning. He was administered the oath by acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, Ashok Bhushan at the Raj Bhavan.

Mr. Sathasivam is the first former CJI to become the Governor of a state. Mr. Sathasivam succeeds former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit who had resigned last week.

Central Government has initiated the process of appointing Justice H L Dattu as the next Chief Justice of India after the present incumbent R M Lodha retires on 27thSeptember. The Law Ministry has also cleared the file and sent to Prime Minister-s office for approval. He will have a tenure of little over one year before he retires on December 2, 2015.

As per current process, current CJI Justice Lodha had recently written to the Law Minister nominating Justice Dattu, the senior-most Supreme Court judge after him, as the next CJI. Justice Dattu (63) has been heading the bench monitoring investigations into the 2G spectrum scam.

India-s largest software services firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced this week that the tenure of its Chief Executive Officer and MD N Chandrasekaran has been extended by five years to October 2019.Chandrasekaran, who was appointed CEO and MD for five years on October 6, 2009, has been re-appointed for another five years. His re-appointment will be effective from October 6, 2014.

Under his leadership, the company has seen its revenues growing to Rs. 85,933 crore (in last quarter), from Rs. 29,091 crore in Q2 FY-10 (when he took over). The company has grown as a CAGR of 24.2% one of the highest in the industry. TCS- market cap has also increased 4.1 times under his leadership from Rs. 1.2 lakh crore to Rs. 4.97 lakh crore.

Former Attorney General of India Goolam Essaji Vahanvati passed away of a heart attack in Mumbai on 2ndSeptember. He was 65. He was the first Muslim to become India's Attorney General. He served as the solicitor general of India from 2004 to 2009 and became India's 13th Attorney General in 2009 under previous UPA-2 government.

6-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 6 September 2014

India has slipped to 71st position in an annual global competitiveness list, Global Competitiveness Report 2014-15 published by the World Economic Forum this week. India was ranked at the lowest among all the BRICS countries. China was ranked at 28thposition in the list.

As per the list, Switzerland is the most competitive economy, followed by Singapore and United States.

Famous journalist and Editorial Chairman of Outlook group, Vinod Mehta has been selected for G K Reddy Memorial Award for the year 2014 for his contribution in the field of Journalism. The award was announced by the TSR Foundation this week and the award will be presented in New Delhi in December this year.

As a successful auditor, he launched publications including The Sunday Observer, The Independent and The Pioneer. He also authored the biographies of actress Meena Kumari and politician Sanjay Gandhi.

India's third largest private bank, Axis Bank has been featured in Forbes Asia's FAB 50 list of 2014, published this week.This is the fourth time that Axis Bank has been featured in the list along with only two other banks.

The FAB 50 comprises of the best of Asia-Pacific's biggest publicly traded companies, chosen from a pool of 1,300 companies in the region that have at least USD 3 billion in market cap or annual revenue.

Asia-s third largest paint company, Asian Paints has roped in Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone as its new brand ambassador to endorse its brand, -Royale Play-.This is the first time the company has appointed a brand ambassador to market its product, which identified women as its target group.

India-s Sania Mirza and her Brazilian partner Bruno Soares won the US Open mixed doubles title yesterday after defeating American Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico by 6-1 2-6 11-9.

This was her sixth Grand Slam final and her fifth mixed doubles final. She has won two mixed-doubles titles, at the Australian Open in 2009 and French Open in 2012 both with Mahesh Bhupathi. Sania also made the title round of the Australian Open in January this year with Horia Tecau.

Lt Colonel of Indian Army, Sudhakar Jayant completed a hat trick of titles after winning the gold medal for the third time at the IWF World Masters Weightlifting Championships currently being held in Copenhagen, Denmark. He lifted a total of 185kg while competing in 62kg weight category.

Finland's Huuskonen Jari won the silver medal with a total lift of 170kg, while French Frederic Robert won the bronze medal with a total lift of 145kg.7-September8-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 8 September 2014

Japan's economy contracted by 1.8% in the April-to-June quarter which is much lower than expectations. This is the steepest contraction for the third largest economy in the world post the2011 earthquake disaster. On annual basis, GDP was contracted by 7.1%. Its economy grew by 1.5% in the previous quarter.

World number one Serena Williams won her 18th Grand Slam title after defeating Caroline Wozniacki by 6-3, 6-3 in an one-sided match in the final of US Open Women-s singles. This is also her sixth US Open Title.

With this win, she joined Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova with 18 Grand Slam wins, trailing only 22 wins by Steffi Graf on the Open era list and six behind the all-time record held by Margaret Court.Current Affairs India - 8 September 2014

1. India-s rank droppedby 35 places to 62nd rank in terms of effective regulation of the stock exchanges as per the latest report published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).Last year, India stood at 27th position for effective regulation and supervision of securities exchanges. Neighboring countries Pakistan and China secured ranks 51 and 58 respectively in the same list, better than India-s rank.

The findings are part of WEF-s Global Competitiveness report 2014-15, where India has been ranked among 144 countries across the globe. South Africa secured No 1 rank followed by Finland, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Singapore in this category, as per the report.India has also slipped to the 39th place from 18th rank in terms of easiness for companies to raise money by issuing shares on the stock market, as per the same report. Hong Kong secured the No 1 rank followed by Taiwan, China and South Africa in terms of ease in raising money through equity markets. However, India has shown improvement with regard to strength of investor protection. India has been ranked at 34th place on that parameter compared to 41st position in the previous rank.

Vice-Chancellor of Maharaja Ganga Singh University, Chandrakala Padia has been appointed as the first women chairperson of Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS), situated in Shimla. She was a National Fellow at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies in 2003-04.

She succeeded the former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi who resigned after BJP's victory in recent Lok Sabha Election in May 2014.9-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 9 September 2014

Croatia's Marin Cilic won US Open Men's Singles title after defeating Japanese Kei Nishikori in straight sets in New York last night.

With this, World No.14 Cilic claimed his first Grand Slam title with the win in his first appearance in a Grand Slam final. His previous best finish was a semifinal appearance at the 2010 Australian Open.

The International Cricket Council, ICC, suspended Pakistan's off spin bowler Saeed Ajmal for illegal action today. He has been suspended from bowling in international cricket with immediate effect. An analysis of Ajmal's action revealed that all his deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance permitted under the regulations.

Ajmal has played 35 Tests and took 178 wickets. Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to challenge the decision.Current Affairs India - 9 September 2014

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to fix the maximum age for Managing Directors and Chief Executive Officers in private sector banks at 70.RBI said in the light of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, the upper age limit for Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO) and other Whole Time Directors (WTDs) of banks in the private sector should be 70 years.

Within the overall limit of 70 years, individual bank-s boards are free to prescribe a lower retirement age for WTDs, including MD & CEO, as an internal policy. RBI said the Companies Act, 2013 prescribes that "no company shall appoint or continue the employment of any person as Managing Director, Whole Time Director or Manager who is below the age of 21 years or has attained the age of 70 years''.

Famous Indian scientist, Kamal Bawa has been awarded with the prestigious USD 1 lakh Midori Prize for biodiversity for his pioneering research, including in climate change in the Himalayas. Currently he is a professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Earlier, he had also received international recognition as the recipient of the first Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science, in 2012.

Bawa, founder president of the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE) in Bangalore, will receive the prize during the Oct 16-17 Conference of Parties (COP-12) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in South Korea.The Midori Prize for Biodiversity was established by The AEON Environmental Foundation, Japan, in 2010, which is honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of resources at local and global levels and raised awareness about biodiversity.10-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 10 September 2014

Olympic officials from International Olympic Committee have increased their collaboration with Interpol to combat match-fixing and illegal betting. International Olympic Committee, President Thomas Bach has discussed the issue with the secretary general of the international police agency Ronald Noble.

The IOC said the talks focused on the risks related to the manipulation of competitions, intelligence gathering, the conducting of investigations and prosecution procedures. The IOC recently set up the Integrity Betting Intelligence System to monitor any suspicious betting patterns during the Olympics or other sports events.

Luxury carmaker Ferrari announced that its Chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo will step down as chairman of Ferrari as of 13thOctober and will be replaced by Sergio Marchionne, who is also the chief executive of parent group Fiat. The departure of Montezemolo, announced by Fiat today, was widely expected after escalating clashes between the two executives over strategy and the role of the luxury sports car business within the Fiat group.

Montezemolo, Ferrari's chairman since 1991, wanted to keep Ferrari autonomous, while Marchionne has been pushing to better integrate the business within Fiat to boost the group's move into the premium end of the car market as it seeks to rival the likes of Volkswagen and BMW.Current Affairs India - 10 September 2014

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the sale of stake in Coal India Limited (CIL), Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGC) and National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) today to raise nearly Rs 43,000 crore as a part of divestment.

The CCEA has cleared 10% stake sale in CIL, 5% in ONGC and 11.36% in NHPC. At current market prices, it will help government to raise Rs 23,000 Crore, Rs 18,000 Crore and Rs 2,800 Crore respectively from these three PSUs.The CCEA also gave its approval for Phase-V of the Unique Identification scheme AADHAAR for undertaking enrollments in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. With this, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been given the target of generating 100 crore Aadhaar numbers by 2015. So far, more than 67.38 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated in the country.

Senior IAS officer Subhash Chandra Garg was appointed as Executive Director (ED) in World Bank today. Garg, a 1983-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, will have a tenure of three years from the date of assuming charge of the post.

The Executive Directors are responsible for the conduct of the general operations of the World Bank and exercise all the powers delegated to them by the Boards of Governors. They also select a President who serves as Chairman of the Boards. They are responsible for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development-s loans, guarantees and policies that impact the World Bank-s general operations among others.

India-s largest private sector bank, ICICI Bank has announced its -Cardless Cash Withdrawal- service that allows its customers to transfer money from their account to anyone even without a banking account and only with a mobile number in India.

The recipient can withdraw money without using a debit card from over 10,000 ATMs of ICICI Bank across the country 24x7. One can do this even without having a bank account of any bank. However, the sender needs to be an ICICI Bank savings account holder.

The 60th National School Games will be organized in two phases - at Sri Anandpur Sahib and Bathinda in Punjab in November this year. It will be held in six sporting disciplines and nearly 4,000 sports persons from across the country are expected to participate in the games.

11-September12-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 12 September 2014

The European Union imposed new set of economic sanctions on Russia over Ukraine to put pressure on Russia over the annexation of Crimea. The restrictions include financing for some Russian state-owned companies and asset freezes on leading Russian politicians. Sanctions included asset freezes and travel bans on Igor Lebedev, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, other deputy speakers of the Russian lower house of parliament, and a number of leaders of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.

After European Union, The US has also imposed some new sanctions on Russia. As per new sanction, US citizens are now not allowed to provide loans of longer than 30 days to Sberbank, Russia's biggest bank. It will also affect Russian technology and Oil firms.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged USD 50 million to support emergency efforts to contain the recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa.Nearly 2000 people are killed in the worst outbreak of the virus in history and more than 10000 are infected with the deadly virus.

Current Affairs India - 12 September 2014

India successfully test-fired its indigenously built nuclear capable Agni-I missile yesterday from a test range near Odisha coast by the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the army as part of a training exercise. The missile has a strike range of 700 km and carry nuclear war heads.

Agni-I missile has a specialised navigation system which ensures it reaches the target with a high degree of accuracy and precision.

The Central Government has set up a high-level committee to draft the proposed amendments in key environment laws within two months. The committee will be headed by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanainand will review the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air(Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981, according to Environment Ministry office order dated August 29.

The other members of the committee are Viswanath Anand, former Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Forests, Justice (Retd.) AK Srivastav and KN Bhat, former Additional Solicitor. Bishwanath Sinha, Joint Secretary, MoEF, Hardik Shah, Member Secretary, Gujarat State Pollution Control Board would serve as secretaries of the Committee.

3. Vinod Kumar Duggal has resigned as the Governor of Manipur and Mizoram and President accepted the same. Meghalaya Governor Dr. Krishan Kant Paul has been given additional responsibility as the Governor of Manipur and Mizoram.

Narendra Ambwani, Director of Agro Tech Foods Ltd, has been elected as Chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).He has been a member of the board of governors for seven years and provided active support to self-regulation in the advertising market.

At the same time, Benoy Roy Chawdhuri was elected as Vice-Chairman and Shashidhar Sinha has been appointed Honorary Treasurer.

Former Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UDAI) and Former CEO of Infosys Limited, Nandan Nilekani has been conferred with V Krishna Murthy Award for Excellence. He received the award from Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah today at the Centre for Organisation Development (COD).

Freedom fighter and famous journalist Jitendra Chandra Paul passed away on 11thSeptember at B.R. Ambedkar Medical College in Agartala, Tripura. He was 101. He participated in India-s freedom struggle and was imprisoned for many years during pre-independence era. He also brought out Tripura-s first Bengali daily Jagaran in 1954.

Indian tennis player Rohan Bopanna has been chosen for the Davis Cup Commitment Award and he will be presented with the award in Bangalore on 13thSeptember on the sidelines of the ongoing World Group play-off tie against Serbia. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) will present Davis Cup Commitment Awards during this weekend-s 2014 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas World Group and zone group ties.

Along with Bopanna, former Grand Slam tennis champions Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil will also be presented the award after their respective games.13-SeptemberIIP growth slows to 4-month low of 0.5% in JulyIndia-s Index of Industrial Production, the most important parameter to judge performance of industrial sector, growth drops to 4-month low of 0.5% in July compared to 3.4% in June due to lower growth in consumer goods sectors. IIP growth stood at 2.6% in July last year.Manufacturing sector output, which constitutes over 75% of the index, was contracted 1%, consumer goods output contracted by 7.4% and consumer durables output contracted by 20.9% in July which dragged the overall IIP growth number. But the mining and electricity sector output grew by 2.1% and 11.7% respectively in July.During the April-July period of the current fiscal year 2014-15, the IIP recorded a growth of 3.3%. This dismal IIP data confirms sluggish growth in India-s manufacturing sector. RBI needs to cut rates aggressively to booth industrial as well as economic growth.India-s retail inflation eases to 7.8% in August from 7.96% in JulyIndia-s Retail inflation, measured by Consumer Price Index, eased marginally to 7.8% in August compared to 7.96% in July. This is much lower compared to Retail inflation of 9.52% in the same month last year. Consumer food price inflation, under a new series published by the government, jumped to 9.42% in August from 7.36% in July.The steep increase in retail inflation for July was mainly due to increase in fruits and vegetable prices, which rose 24.27% and 15.15% respectively in August compared to 22.48% and 16.88% respectively in the previous month. The urban inflation stood at 7.04% in August compared to 7.42% in July while in rural areas retail inflation stood at 8.25% in August compared to 8.27% in July.14-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 14 September 2014

Hindi Diwas is celebrated today (14thSeptember) across the country to commemorate adoption of Hindi as an official language by the Constituent Assembly. The constituent assembly decided to acknowledge Hindi as the official language on this day in 1949 and the Constitution of India adopted Hindi in Devanagri Script as the official language of the Union government in 1950.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of 3% quota for disabled persons in all government jobs. A bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha ruled that the disabled people have not got their due in the last 19 yearsdespite the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act was passed in 1995.

The government has released a new draft 'Road Safety and Transport Bill 2014' which proposes increase in fines and jail term for traffic violators. Drivers jumping a red light, driving on the wrong side of the road, not using seat belt or obstructing emergency vehicles will be fined up to 5,000 rupees.

For repeated offenders, the penalty can rise up to 15,000 rupees and even the licence can also be suspended. If a child is killed by a speeding vehicle, the driver will have to pay a fine of three lakh rupees and face seven years in jail. All these new rules have been proposed to improve road safety on Indian roads.

India-s Forex reserves were decreased by USD 1.327 billion to 317.313 billion for the week ended 5thSeptember as per the recent weekly data released by RBI. This decrease was mainly due to decrease in the reserve portion in the Foreign Currency Assets. Indian-s forex reserves decreased after four weeks of continuous increase.

The Foreign Currency Assets (FCA) was decreased by USD 1.028 billion to 290.364 billion for the same week. Foreign currency assets are expressed in US dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of the non-US currencies, such as the euro, pound and yen, held in the reserves. The SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) and Reserve portion with IMF were also decreased by USD 5.7 million and USD 9.2 million respectively for the same week. Gold value was decreased by USD 240.7 million to USD 20.933 billion for the same reporting week.

Famous educationist Kireet Joshi passed away in Puducherry today. He was 83. He was education advisor to the Government of India in 1976.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his condolence on Joshi's demise. As an advisor to Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr.Joshi played a key role in setting up of Children`s University and Institute of Teacher Education.

Chitresh Tatha, aged at 12, is the youngest sailor to represent India at the 2014 Asian Games to be held in Incheon, South Korea this month. He sails in the Optimist Dinghy category.

15-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 15 September 2014

Leading IT services provider Cognizant announced that it will acquire US-based healthcare technology & operations company Trizetto for about USD 2.7 billion in all cash deal.Post this acquisition, the combined entity will serve nearly 245,000 healthcare providers with more than USD 3 billion in healthcare revenue.

According to the company's press release, Cognizant expects this acquisition to "accelerate significantly its market position and strategy of delivering innovative healthcare software and solutions to a wide range of healthcare clients." TriZetto and its 3,700 employees will be a part of Cognizant's existing healthcare business.

Microsoft acquired a Swedish video game maker Mojang for nearly USD 2.5 billion. This is the biggest acquisition by Microsoft after it acquired Nokia last year.

Mojang was founded in 2009 and it is developer of a popular app named Minecraft. Minecraft is one of the top-selling apps on both Apple's iOS store and Android's Google Play. Post this acquisition, entire team of Mojang will join Game studio of Microsoft.Current Affairs India - 15 September 2014

Public service broadcaster Doordarshan is celebrating its 55 years today as it was launched on 15th September in 1959 in India. On that day, the first experimental centre at Delhi with a small transmitter was inaugurated by the then President Rajendra Prasad.

Since its launch, Doordarshan has been serving as a major source of information, education and entertainment for years.

Meghalaya Governor K K Paul was sworn in as acting Governor of Manipur today. He was administered the oath of office by Manipur Chief Justice Laxmi Kant Mahapatra during a function at Raj Bhavan. He succeeded V K Duggal.

Former director general of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Scientist Raghunath Anant Mashelkar has been appointed as the chair of an expert panel to recommend best technologies for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Swachh Bharat" national sanitation campaign. He will head the 19-member expert committee which has been given responsibility to examine best technologies on sanitation and water which can be used on a sustainable basis in various states and scalable enough.

The terms of reference include achieving Prime Minister Modi's "Swachh Bharat" goals by 2019, with an emphasis on areas like potable water and sanitation. The programme will be formally launched Oct 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi.

The Public Sector Enterprises Selection Board has named T.Suvarna Raju as the next Chairman of the defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. He will succeed current Chairman R.K.Tyagi who will superannuate at the end of January 2015.

Global Tech giant Google launched the much awaited Android One based mobile phones today with handset makers Micromax, Spice and Karbonn, at prices starting Rs. 6,399. While Micromax has launched Canvas A1, Karbonn and Spice have launched Sparkle V and Dream Uno, respectively to run on Android One.

These handsets will be sold through online e-commerce partners Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal in the beginning and later these phones will be available in stores. The company will launch handsets with manufacturers such as Intex, HTC, Lava, Xolo and Lenovo in the near future.

Indian shuttler H S Prannoy won his maiden title after winning the Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold yesterday. He defeated Firman Abdul Kholik by 21-11, 22-20 in the men-s singles finals held at Palembang, Indonesia.

The World No.43 reached the Vietnam Open Grand Prix final last week. He is also the third Indian to win a GP Gold title this year after Saina Nehwal won the India GP Gold in January and Arvind Bhat won the German Open GP Gold in March.16-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 16 September 2014

The International Day for the preservation of the Ozone Layer was observed today (16th September) across the world to raise awareness about the issue. The UN General Assembly announced 16 September the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer in 1994 as the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer was signed on that day in 1987.

The theme for 2014 is -Ozone Layer Protection: The Mission Goes On-. The Montreal Protocol has so far been successful to some extent in meeting some of its targets on phasing out ozone-depleting substances.

The USA won the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 title after defeating Serbia in the final match held on 14thSeptember. FIBA Basketball World Cup 2014 was held in Madrid, Spain. This was second consecutive win of FIBA Basketball World Cup by USA and it also became third country to achieve that. Before USA, Yugoslavia and Brazil have won consecutive FIBA Basketball World Cup titles.

Current Affairs India - 16 September 2014

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented Indira Gandhi Rajbhasa awards on the occasion of National Hindi Divas at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on 14th September. This awards are also known as Indira Gandhi Official Language Awards which are presented on 14th September every year.

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) CMD Madhusudan was one of the awardees who was awarded with the Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Shield for the Best Hindi Implementation in the organization.

India-s foreign direct investment (FDI) jumped more than 100% to USD 3.5 billion in July compared to USD 1.65 billion in the same month last year. During April-July period of this fiscal year, the foreign inflows grew by 52% to USD 10.73 billion compared to USD 7.05 billion in the same period last year.

Mukesh Ambani retained No 1 position as the richest man in India with a fortune ofRs1.65 lakh crore, as per the Hurun India Rich List for 2014 published today. Ambani tops the list of 230 individuals for the third consecutive years.

Dilip Shangvi of Sun Pharmaceuticals secured second position, overtaking LN Mittal for the first time, after seeing his wealth grow by 43% to Rs 1.29 lakh crore. LN Mittal dropped to fourth place with total fortune of Rs 97,000 crore followed by Azim Premji at fourth place with total fortune of Rs 86,000 crore.

Cricket legend and Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood danseuse Helen are chosen for this year's Giants International awardees, as announced today. Tendulkar will get the award for lifetime achievement in sports while Helen Salim Khan will be honoured for her lifetime contribution to film industry. Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah will give the awards at a function on Wednesday.

AIBA Executive Committee Bureau has formally recognized Boxing India as the provisional AIBA National Federation to represent the sport of boxing in India. After giving provisional recognition to Boxing India, International Boxing association (AIBA) has now permitted Indian players to take part in the Asian Games under the national tricolor.

It means the national anthem will be rendered during the medal ceremony when an Indian wins a gold medal at the Games, which will be held from September 19 to October 4 at Incheon, South Korea.

West Bengal football club East Bengal won its sixth successive and a record 36th overall Calcutta Football League Premier Division title after defeating Tollygunge Agragami by 2-1 in Kolkata today. After this win, East Bengal finished at the top with 25 points which is one point higher than its arch rival Mohun Bagan club. Tollygunge finished third with 22 points.

Meghalaya's Edward Mawthoh has bagged a bronze medal at the World Kickboxing Championships 2014 held in Italy. He won the medal in the 48kg category of the Under-16 full contact sports.

17-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 17 September 2014

Academy Award-nominated actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio has been chosen as the United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN chief Ban Ki-moon, with a special focus on climate change.

He will address the opening ceremony of the Climate Change Summit on September 23 in New York that has been convened by the Secretary General.

US consumer prices declined 0.2% in August which is the drop for the first time since April 2013. Consumer price increased by 0.1% in previous month of July. On Annual basis inflation stood at 1.7% in August compared to 25 in July.

The eurozone inflation rate was unchanged at 0.4% in August compared to previous month of July. This is much lower compared to 1.3% inflation witnessed in the same month last year.

The European Central Bank (ECB) reduced its benchmark interest rate to 0.05% and introduced new stimulus measures to boost demand and growth amid deflation fears.

China's central bank has announced that it would inject nearly 500 billion yuan (USD 81 billion) into the five biggest state-owned banks to boost growth in the world's second-largest economy. This move aims at increasing business confidence and investment to boost economic growth.

The five banks which will receive the stimulus are the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of China and Bank of Communications.Current Affairs India - 17 September 2014

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Ahmedabad today afternoon for his three-day India visit during which he is expected to improve bilateral relationship between these two neighbor countries. Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli and Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, among others, received the President in a traditional Gujarati cultural style.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi received the Chinese President at the Hyatt hotel today and both the leadershave signed three MoUs including setting up Industrial Park in Gujarat. These agreements include Sister City pact between Guangzhou in China and Ahmedabad, setting up of an industrial park in Gujarat and the last one is between Gujarat government and china.

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan appointed BJP veteran L.K. Advani as the chairman of the prestigious Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. He succeeds Manikrao Gavit of Congress who was heading the Committee in the last Lok Sabha.

He is also a member of the Committee on Public Undertakings headed by Shanta Kumar (BJP) and Committee on Information Technology headed by young BJP MP Anurag Thakur. Another BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi is heading the Committee on Estimates. Party senior Maj Gen B C Khanduri is heading the Committee on Defence.

The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has appointed Lalitha Kumaramangalam as the new chief of the National Commission for Women (NCW). The Union Women and Child Development (WCD) Minister Menaka Gandhi announced her appointment today.

Ms. Kumaramanglam runs Prakriti, an NGO and contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and 2009.

Not a single Indian higher education institution has made it to the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings, published yesterday. The best rank is achieved by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay which is ranked at 222 followed by IIT Delhi at 235 and IIT Kanpur, Madras and Kharagpur are in the 300 range.

Other Indian institutions that have made it to the rankings are Calcutta University, Benares Hindu University, Pune University, the Indian Institute of Science and Jawaharlal Nehru University.The Massachusetts Institute of Technology retained the first position in the ranking for the second consecutive yearwhile all the top 10 positions in the rankings list are taken by the U.S. and U.K.-based universities. The National University of Singapore was ranked at 22nd globally and leads the ranking among Asian institutes. US is the dominant nation with 51 institutions in the list followed by the UK (29), Germany (13), the Netherlands (11), Canada (10), Japan (10) and Australia (8).

The board of directors of DCB Bank Ltd has reappointed Nasser Munjee as part-time chairman for another three years with effect from 19thAugust 2014. The private sector bank said Munjee-s reappointment is pursuant to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India, as per its filling to stock exchange.

Indian boxer Manoj Kumar, a 2010 Commonwealth Games gold-medalist, will be awarded with the Arjuna Award as the Sports Ministry has finally accepted his nomination after taking legal action for being denied the honour initially. .

The controversial recommendation of boxer Jai Bhagwan for the Arjuna Awards had led to Manoj approaching the Sports Ministry officials, who, he said, had assured him that his name would be added to a list of 15 athletes in a review meeting. But after being snubbed for a second time in the review meeting, Manoj took the legal route and filed a case in the Delhi High Court.18-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 18 September 2014

India and China exchanged 12 documents and signed 12 MoUs today including one on five years economic and trade development plan. An agreement on audio visual co-production, two documents on railways, another document on work plan for drug administration and a MoU on culture were exchanged between the two countries.

Another MoU on peaceful use of outer space and a twinning agreement between Shanghai and Mumbai were also signed. China has also committed to invest USD 20 billion in five years. China has expressed interest to invest in Indian railways as well.Both the leaders, Prime Minister of India and President of China, have discussed border issues openly and said that the boundary issues will sorted out soon.

Chinese President Xi Jinping appointed Le Yucheng as China's new Ambassador to India while on his 3-day visit to India.He Wei Wei who previously served as China's envoy to India.

India-s largest bank State Bank of India and The Export Import Bank of China have signed a framework agreement for a Line of Credit (LOC) of USD 1.8 billion to be offered by the latter.The Line of Credit will be utilized for projects involving import of Chinese raw materials, energy equipment, mechanical, electronic and other high technology products etc.

This deal will help Chinese companies to invest in India-s infrastructure and industrial sectors easily. China has recently committed USD 20 billion investment in India during visit of its President.

The government has launched an electronic toll collection (ETC) programme in the country under the brand name "FASTag"which will help vehicles to pay highway tolls electronically without stopping at the toll plazas. This was launched by the Ministry of Road and Highways.

The unique number of the RFID (radio-frequency identification) tag affixed on the wind shield of the vehicle will be read by the readers fitted in the dedicated 'ETC' lanes of plazas and appropriate amount as per the class of vehicle will be automatically deducted from the account of the user. The ministry has also roped in ICICI bank and Axis bank for providing this service and distribute RFID based "FASTag".

The International Economic Association (IEA) appointed Kaushik Basu, who is Senior Vice-President and Chief Economist of the World Bank,as president-elect of the association from September 2014. At the same time, he will continue to serve as Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of World Bank.

With this he will be the second Indian to head this association that produces a large number of research papers and books and organizes round tables on topics of contemporary interest. Amartya Sen was the first Indian to join the International Economic Association.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed former McKinsey India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai as the Chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI) for a period of three years from the date of taking full responsibility.

He was the co-editor of Reimagining India that features 60 global businessmen, academicians, economists, authors and journalists. He serves on the boards of Reliance Industries, the American India Foundation, Saifee Hospital, Saifee Burhani Upliftment Trust, Network 18 and the advisory board of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Scotland has decisively rejected independence by winning more than half of the votes polled as its citizens have decided to stay with United Kingdom. A vote for the 307-year union is a relief for millions of Britons including UK government and worldwide financial markets.

With 31 out of the country's 32 council areas having declared results, 55% people voted against independence while 45% people voted in favor of independence. Glasgow, Scotland's largest council area voted in favour of independence, while capital Edinburgh, rejected it.

Larry Ellison, co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corp for last 37 years, has announced to step aside as chief executive officer of the tech giant yesterday. He will be replaced by co-CEOs Safra Catz and Mark Hurd.

Post this Ellison, also the fifth richest person in the world, will continue as executive chairman and chief technology officer of Oracle Corp. Mr Ellison co-founded Oracle Corp with Bob Miner and Ed Oates in 1977.

Chinese companyAlibaba's shares opened much higher than its initial price on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) today when its share price made debut at USD 92.7 compared to IPO price of USD 68 per share. Alibaba founder and Chairman Jack Ma rang the opening bell at the NYSE today.

With the price band, the company raised nearly USD 21.8bn in its share sale. The company is now valued at USD 227 billion at USD 92.7 price per share.

The 17th edition of the Asian Games kicked off at the Incheon Asiad Main Stadium in South Korea today through an opening ceremony.The four-hour long grand opening ceremony showcased the rich cultural heritage of the Korean peninsula. South Korean President Park Geun-hye declared open the Games.

Total 439 events in 36 disciplines will be conducted at 49 sports venues as a part of 17 Asiad Games. Around 13,000 athletes from 45 nations will be competing in the event. Sardar Singh, captain of the men-s hockey team is the Indian contingent-s flag bearer at 17th Asian Games.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) executive board approved Indonesia as hosts for the 2018 Asian Games today. Indonesia replaced earlier venue of Vietnam which has declared thatit could no longer afford to stage the next Asian Games in April this year.

Current Affairs India - 19 September 2014

Richard Rahul Verma has been appointed as the next US Ambassador to India by the President of USA. With this, he will become the first Indian-American to be appointed for the top diplomatic position in Delhi.

He succeeds former ambassador Nancy Powell who resigned from the post couple of months back. Since then the post has been vacant.

The Reserve Bank of India has proposed to segregate the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) post of Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks.It has also proposed a separate committee for appointment of directors on the board of PSU banks.

RBI has made these proposals as a part of its initiatives to improve corporate governance in the PSU banks based on the recommendation of the PJ Nayak Committee recommendations. The proposal of RBI may delay the appointments of Chairman in at least ten PSU banks or may bring changes in the top management of the PSU banks.

As of August 31, the assets under management of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund were around Rs 37,000 crore and the AUM of PineBridge India was about Rs 660 crore. PineBridge has two equity-focused funds, six debt funds and two fund-of-funds.

Famous musician Mandolin U. Shrinivas (45) passed away today following a failed liver transplant. He showed an uncanny interest in his father Sathyanarayana's mandolin at a very young age and made his first public performance in 1978 and since then there was no looking back.

He was awarded with the prestigious awards like the Padma Shri and the Sangeet Natak Akademi award.20-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 20 September 2014

Time Magazine has name Indian architect Alok Shetty as the -young leader of tomorrow- for his pioneering work in designing affordable flood-proof houses for slum dwellers. As per Time, he is among -leaders of tomorrow- who are -working hard to change their worlds today- as the magazine named six inspirational young persons in its first class of -next generation leaders-.

Pension regulator PFRDA has set up an expert committee which will be headed by former SEBI chief G N Bajpai to review the investment guidelines for national pension system (NPS) schemes in private sector. This committee will look at the investment guidelines in a -wholesale- manner so as to enable flow of pension monies in new instruments such as long term infrastructure bonds to be floated by banks, infrastructure debt funds and Basel 3 compliant bonds.

The committee has also been asked to recommend measures for bringing other pension/superannuation funds under the regulatory purview of PFRDA.The central government had introduced the New Pension System (NPS) in January 2004 first for central government employees (excluding Armed Forces) and some state government services. Later the NPS Scheme was extended for all workers in India from 1st May 2009.

Pistol shooter Shweta Chaudhry won the first medal for India on the opening day of the 17th Asian Game today. She won a bronze medal in the women-s 10M Air Pistol eventwith a total tally of 176.4 at the Ongnyeon shooting range. China-s Zhang Mengyan won the gold with 202.2, while host country South Korea-s Jung Jee-Hae secured the silver with 201.3.

Famous Indian shooter Jitu Rai won the first Gold for India in the 50m Pistol event on the opening day of the 17th Asian Games at the Ongnyeon International Shooting Range today. She had also won a gold in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow earlier this year.

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza and her partner Cara Black from Zimbabwe won the women's doubles title at the WTA Toray Pacific Open tournament after defeating Spain's Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro by 6-2 7-5 in the final match in Tokyo today. With the win, they have successfully defended their Tokyo Open title, which is a 1 million US dollar event.

21-September22-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 22 September 2014

Pakistan Government has appointed Rizwan Akhtar as Chief its most powerful intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The head of the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency occupies one of the most important posts in Pakistan.

Before this appointment, he was head of the paramilitary Rangers in southeastern Sindh province. He will take over as head of the ISI on October 1 this year when the present ISI chief Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam retires.

Afghanistan's election commission has named Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner of the recently held presidential election yesterday. Ghani Ahmadzai has also signed a power sharing agreement with opponent Abdullah Abdullah, who will fill the newly created position of government chief executive.

John Key was re-elected as the Prime Minister of New Zealand for the third consecutive time, as per the election result published. He had been Prime Minister of New Zealand since 2008. He has also secured the first majority government of New Zealand since 1996.

His party, the centre-right National Party, won 48% of the vote in the general election held in this month followed by the Labour Party of New Zealand led by David Cunliffe which won 25% votes, the Green Party which won 10% and New Zealand First (NZF) party won 9% of the total votes.

Voreqe Bainimarama was sworn in as Fiji's new prime minister today after he won the general election held recently for the first time since 2006. Voreqe Bainimarama received 60% of the total votes in the election. He was sworn in by President Epeli Nailatikau at a brief ceremony in Suva's Government House.

His Fiji First Party won 59.2% of the vote, equating to 32 seats in the new 50-seat parliament set up under a constitution introduced last year. The Social Democratic Liberal Party secured only 28.2% (15 seats), with the National Federation Party winning 5.5% votes (3 seats).

Chinese internet giant Alibaba raised USD 25 billion from its recent IPO at its initial IPO price of USD 68 per share. With this, it has become the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history.

This IPO broke the earlier record held by China's Agricultural Bank which had raised USD 22.1 billion in 2010. Alibaba is now worth more USD 223 billion which is more than Facebook, Amazon and eBay.Current Affairs India - 22 September 2014

The crucial test of India's Mars Orbiter Mission is successful today as the main liquid engine on Mars Orbiter spacecraft was fired successfully.As per ISRO, they had a perfect burn for 4 seconds, as programmed and the Orbiter's trajectory has been corrected. The Mars Orbiter Mission will now go ahead with its plan for Mars Orbit Insertion on Wednesday.

The Narula brothers of Delhi became the first ever contestants to win Rs 7 crore in the television show, Kaun Banega Crorepati which is hosted by megastar Amitabh Bachchan.The two brothers, Achin and Sarthak Narula won the prize money in Season 8 of the show.

Yahoo has acquired Bangalore-based startup company Bookpad for around USD 8.3 million, which has become the first Indian tech startup to be bought by Yahoo. The deal comes some eight months after Facebook snapped up Bangalore's Little Eye Labs.Post the deal, the team of Bookpad will be moving to Silicon Valley soon. Founded by IIT-Guwahati alumni Niketh Sabbineni, Aditya Bandi and Ashwik Reddy, Bookpad is competing with large companies like Google and Crocodoc in document viewing.

23-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 23 September 2014

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba founder Jack Ma has been termed as the richest in the Hurun China Rich List for 2014 released today with a fortune of USD 25 billion post historical IPO launch by the company. He replaced Wang Jianlin of Wandain (fortune of USD 24.2 billion) to the second place.

There are 354 dollar billionaires in China as per the Hurun China Rich list 2014 compared to just 3 10 years ago

Eurozone business growth slowed in September for a second consecutive month as the latestMarkitcompiledPurchasing Managers' Index (PMI), an important parameter to judge the performance of the sector dropped to 52.3 in September compared to 52.5 in August. A reading higher than 50 indicates growth.

Central government has set up a committee to recommend strategies on restructuring the Railway Board which will submit the report in a year. The committee has to suggest ways to restructure the board to ensure faster decision-making.

The committee will be headed by Bibek Debroy, economist with the Centre for Policy Research. Other members on the panel are Gurcharan Das, Ravi Narain (former CEO of National Stock Exchange), KM Chandrashekhar (former Cabinet Secretary), Partha Mukhopadhyay (Centre for Policy Research) and Rajendra Kashyap, former Finance Commissioner of Railways.

India has finalized Hindi-language road filmLiar's Diceas its official entry for Oscars next year, as per the Film Federation of India (FFI). Liar's Dice, starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa, about a story of a young mother who takes her daughter to Delhi in search of her missing husband. The film won two National Awards this year, one for Best Actress for Geetanjali Thapa and another for Best Cinematography.

The other films which were in the race included 'Shahid', 'Queen', 'Mardaani', Marathi films 'Yellow' and 'Fandry' and Bengali films 'Jatishwar' and 'Apur Panchali'.

Internet giant Google launched a new social campaign in association with Bollywood actor-director Farhan Akhtar-s initiative MARD todayto increase internet literacy among women in the country.

Earlier Google India had launched a -digital literacy- initiative campaign called -Helping Women Get Online- (HWGO) in collaboration with Intel, HUL and Axis Bank late last year. Because of these initiatives, number of women using internet has surpassed the number of men using internet in the last 12 months.

V.G. Mathew has been appointed as the new Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Kerala-based South Indian Bank Ltd. He was appointed for three years with effect from 1 October 2014. He will replace V.A. Joseph who will retire on 30thSeptember 2014.

Amit Mathew, theresident editorand director of Malayala Manorama, has been unanimously elected as the chairman of Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) for the year 2014-15.At the same time, Shashidhar Sinha, CEO (India), IPG Mediabrands, has also been unanimously elected as the deputy chairman of the bureau for the same period.

Cricket legend Sachin will be inducted as a Bradman Honouree along with former Australian Test captain Steve Waugh at a gala dinner in Sydney on next month.Tendulkar, who had the honour of meeting Bradman on his 90th birthday at his Adelaide home, was later listed in an all-time XI prepared by the batting genius himself.

Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra won his first individual medal at the Asian Games today when he won a bronze medal in the men-s 10m air rifle. This could be his last major international competition as he has decided to become a hobby shooter after this event.

24-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 24 September 2014

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), launched by ISRO later last year, was successfully inserted into Martian orbit today morning which is a significant achievement by India. The liquid Apogee motor was fired for about 24 minutes to reduce the speed of the spacecraft and orient it towards the red planet. With this India became the first Asian country to achieve this remarkable feat and also the first country in the world to do this in its first attempt itself. India's MOM is also the world's cheapest inter-planetary mission with cost of approximately Rs 450 crores or USD 74 million, which is a tenth of NASA's spent on its Mars mission MAVEN that entered the Martian orbit on September 22 this year.

India also joins the countries the USA, Russia and European Union who were able to successfully complete this mission. Japan and China had a failed attempt in 2002 and 2011 respectively.Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the scientists of ISRO including its Chairman K Radhakrishnan for this remarkable feat and said that this victory of Indian scientists should be celebrated in all schools and colleges.

The Supreme Court cancelled allocation of 214 of 218 coal blocks allotted between years 1993 and 2010 by the Central government as the process of allotting the coal blocks was not transparent. The Supreme Court has directed Government to allocate those coal blocks in a transparent manner.

It has left four coal blocks which were allocated to public sector companies SAIL, NTPC and two ultra-mega power projects. The Supreme Court has also allowed companies six months- timeframe to release already operational 46 coal blocks. Post that timeframe, companies can bid for these coal blocks.Also the companies will have to pay the loss as compensation for the non-operation of the mines as calculated by the CAG earlir which stands at Rs 295 per mega tonne. This ruling will have a significant impact on power, steel and mining companies as their share prices dropped steeply following this ruling. Also this will increase NPAs of banks as these companies have taken huge amount of loans for different projects.

India's former Ambassador to the UNHardeep Singh Purihas been appointed as Secretary General of Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM),which was launched with the aim of identifying policy proposals to enhance the multilateral system's ability to respond to evolving global challenges.

The Independent Commission on Multilateralism (ICM), launched by International Peace Institute (IPI), will be chaired by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and co-chaired by Foreign Minister of Norway Borge Brende and Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird.

Swedish furniture retaile giant IKEA has signed up with the Telangana Government to set up a retail store in Hyderabad. This will be IKEA-s first store in India.

Ikea is one of the world's largest international furniture, household goods and textiles retail companies headquartered in Sweden. This is the first company which was allowed to make 100% FDI investment in single brand retail. It plans to launch a number of more stores in India within 2017.25-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 25 September 2014

The Southern University System of Louisiana in United States has announced to confer an honorary doctorate degree to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his work in the field of inclusive growth. This is an important news just before Modi-s visit to the USA for the first time after becoming Prime Minister.

The University board met at 4.00 am (Indian time) at the Baton Rouge campus and finally approved the conferment. Baton Rogue is the capital of Louisiana State and about 150 km from New Orleans. Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal also has Indian root.

The Prime Minister today launched the -Make in India- initiative today with the aim to make India a manufacturing hub by attracting foreign companies and foreign investments to set up their manufacturing units here.

Launching the initiative which was attended by lots of global and domestic business leaders including Mukesh Ambani and Azim Premji, Modi said that the biggest factor to attract investment is to create an atmosphere of trust. He also said his definition of FDI for the people of India is First Develop India. The "Make in India" logo is given below,

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved USD 12 million assistance to United Nations to fight Ebola outbreak in West Africa as the outbreak has escalated significantly and posed risk to the entire region.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that USD 10 million will be contributed to UN Secretary General's Fund and an additional USD 2 million will be given for purchase of protective gear to tackle Ebola.This virus has already killed nearly 2,200 people in West Africa and infected nearly 10000 people. As per UN and WHO, 20,000 people will be infected before November this year and will pose a major risk if appropriate actions not taken immediately.

Bharatiya Janata Party and its oldest ally Shiv Sena have announced to part ways after 25 years of association ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. BJP has formally announced that it will contest the upcoming assembly poll only with the Mahayuti allies.

There was a dead lock between these two major parties for last couple of weeks over seat sharing and CM post which was never resolved.The NCP has also announce to break its 15-year long alliance with Congress today just couple of hours of BJP announcing its split with Shiv Sena. With this, NCP and Congress with contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly election separately which is scheduled to be held in October.

Famous Hindi author Govind Mishra was awarded with the 'Saraswati Samman' for his novel "Dhool Paudhon Par" published in 2008 at New Delhi on Monday. The award was constituted by the K K Birla Foundation and Home MinisterRajnath Singhsaid that it has been recognised as the highest literary award in India while giving away the award.

With this, he has become the second Hindi author who was conferred this honour after it was given to Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which sells Amul brand of milk products, ranked 15th among the top dairy organisations in the world as per the International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN).Amul has also been emerged as the fastest growing dairy organisation as its rank was improved from 20 in 2012 to 15th this year in terms of milk procurement and turnover per kg milk.

The milk cooperatives federation expects the average milk procurement to remain around 155 lakh liters per day (LLPD) for the year 2014-15.

Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has been ranked as the richest Indian for the eighth consecutive year, as per the list published by Forbes. Also for the first time, the 100 richest tycoons in India are all billionaires, as per the list.

Mukesh Ambani leads the list eith a net worth of USD 23.6 billion for the eighth consecutive year. He was was followed by Dilip Shanghvi and Lakshmi Mittal and 2nd and 3rd rank respectively.-Good days are here- for the India-s 100 Richest, as the top 100 richest Indians are all billionaires with combined wealth of USD 346 billion, compared to USD 259 billion in 2013, as per Forbes.

Leading NRI businessmen Hinduja brothers, G P Hinduja and S P Hinduja have been awarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Business in United Kingdom.The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum (IEBF), was presented to them at the event hosted by Baroness Sandip Verma, an Indian- origin minister in the UK-s Department of Energy and Climate Change.

26-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 26 September 2014

US economic growth for the previous quarter has been revised upward to 4.6% which is the highest growth in last 2 and half years. This is the best performance since fourth quarter of 2011 and much better than 2.1% contraction in the previous quarter.

The growth is broad based and confirms strong economic recovery for the largest economy in the world. Also US economic Growth estimates for the July-September quarter has been revised as high as 3.6%.

Former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian have been jointly awarded with the Right Livelihood Award this week. Edward Snowden was awarded for his courage and skill as he revealed USA surveillance details and Alan Rusbridger, was awarded for writing extensively on government surveillance, based on leaks of Edward Snowden.

The Right Livelihood Award, established in 1980, is also known as Alternative Nobel prize of Sweden.Current Affairs India - 26 September 2014

The Government announced Deen Dayal Antyodaya Yojana yesterday for urban and rural poor with the aim of empowering the population through enhancement of livelihood opportunities. M Venkaiah Naidu, Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation said, -Under the current urban poverty alleviation programmes, only 790 cities and towns are covered and the Government has decided to extend these measures to all the 4,041 statutory cities and towns.-

He added that September 25 will be celebrated as Antyodaya Diwas every year to mark the birth anniversary of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Under the scheme, Rs 1,000 crore has been provisioned for urban poverty alleviation during 2014-15, out of which Rs 500 crore will be spent on skill development of over 5,00,000 urban poor.The Yojana aims at training 10 lakh (1 million) rural youths for jobs in three years, that is, by 2017. The minimum age for entry under the Yojana is 15 years compared to 18 years under the Aajeevika Skills Programme. The Urban component will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation while the rural development Yojana will be implemented by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.

Suresh Prabhu has been appointed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi-s Sherpa for the G20 annual Summit 2014 this week. He was selected by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself for the duty.

The G-20 annual summit will be held in Brisbane in November this year in which he will attend the G20 Sherpa-s meeting. Sherpa is a senior official responsible for preparing the agenda for leaders to consider during the summit.

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan has resigned today after the Nationalist Congress Party withdrew support to his Congress-led government yesterday after calling of their 15 years old alliance with Congress party. He has submitted his resignation letter to the governor today. TheAssembly elections in Maharashtra will be held on 15th October.

Global credit rating agency Standards & Poor-s has revised India's credit outlook up to 'stable' from current credit outlook of 'negative' and India's rating at BBB-. This is a great sentiment booster for Indian government and will be a big positive for Indian stock market. The reason behind this improvement is stable government at the center, proper fiscal consolidation initiatives, improve current account deficit and improved FDI.

The Reserve Bank of India released Gopalakrishna Committee report on Capacity Building in banks and non-banks this week. The committee, headed by former Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India, G Gopalakrishna, has recommended a 360-degree feedback for a transparent and comprehensive performance assessment exercise, one that ensures adequate performance differentiation between employees.

As per RBI website, the above Committee was constituted by the Reserve Bank with the objective of implementing non-legislative recommendations of the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) relating to capacity building in banks and non-banks, streamlining training intervention and suggesting changes thereto in view of ever increasing challenges in banking and non-banking sectors.The key recommendations of the Report are:

Approach to capacity building in banks and non-banks, enhancing Human Resources Management practices

Creation of position of -Chief Learning Officer- in banks and concept of return on learning,

Strategies for addressing issues of replacement / replenishment of talent in banks,

Process and steps for skill development,

Training strategy and need for expert trainers to help build capacities etc.

The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has been appointed Rajat Sharma, chairman and editor-in-chief of India TV, as its president for the year 2014-2015. At the same time, the board of NBA appointed Ashok Venkatramani, chief executive of ABP News, as vice president and Anurradha Prasad, chairperson-cum-managing director of News24 Broadcast India Ltd, as the honorary treasurer.

He will replace KVL Narayan Rao who was the president of NBA for four consecutive years. KVL Narayan Rao will remain a member of NBA board.

NRI businessman Anil Agarwal and his family have decided to give away 75% of their wealth for the good of the society in order to give it back to the society. He announced the same at a function to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Vedanta-s listing on the London Stock Exchange.

The Chairman of Vedanta Resources has a net worth of USD 3.5 billion and he is ranked at 24th among India-s richest persons as per Forbes. The pledge amount will be nearly USD 2.6 billion or about Rs. 15,900 crore which will be mainly used for eradication of poverty, child welfare and women empowerment in India.

Famous author and filmmaker Madathil Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair has been selected for the JC Daniel Award for lifetime achievement for the year 2013 by the Kerala Government for his overall contribution to the Malayalam film industry.

He will be presented with the award at a function on 17th October 2014 at Kanakakunnu Palace in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Board of Cricket Control in India had announced extension of the tenure of Ravi Shastri as the Director of Indian cricket team till 2015 ICC World Cup which is scheduled to be held in Australia and New Zealand.

Shastri had been appointed Director of the Indian cricket team for the recently-concluded One-Day series in England last month. He will work with Coach Duncan Fletcher and support staffs R Sridhar, Sanjay Bangar and Bharath Arun till 2015.27-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 27 September 2014

A special court in Bangalore sentenced Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa and her three associates, N Sasikalaa, J Elavarasi and VN Sudhakaran, to four years imprisonment and fined Rs 100 crore in a 18-year old Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case. If they fail to pay the fine, they have to spend another one more year in prison.

Post her conviction, she was sent to jail and disqualified as MLA as per Supreme Court verdict. She has to step down as the Chief Minister Tamil Nadu immediately and she will also have to resign as the Member of Legislative Assembly and will be allowed to contest in elections for the next 10 years.

Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu is the new Chief Justice of India and he will be sworn-in by the President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan tomorrow. He will be 42ndChief Justice of India and will succeed Chief Justice R M Lodha who retired today (27thSeptember).

He is the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court after Chief Justice Lodha and He will act as CJI of India for 14 months before he retires.

The Finance Ministry has set up a 15-member committee in order to examine the financial architecture for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector as announced by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during his budget speech. The committee will be headed by ICICI Bank Chairman K V Kamath.

The committee will suggest measures to increase the flow of equity support to MSMEs by targeting incubator-based funds, seed funds, impact funds, venture capital fund and private equity funds and it will also look at regional disparities in credit flow to MSMEs.

The Government has announced winners of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards-2014 in recognition of their work today. 10 scientists have been awarded with the award and all of them will get a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a citation and a plaque.

Capital market watchdog SEBI has appointed Gyan Bhushan as its chief vigilance officer. He succeeds R K Padmanabhan, against whom CBI launched an inquiry in connection with purported weakening of a case against promoters of Bank of Rajasthan (BoR).

Indian men's squash and archery teams won a historic gold medals at the 17th Asian Games today. With this, India-s position jumped to 11thin the overall standings on the eighth day of competitions.

Young archer Abhishek Verma along with Rajat Chauhan and Sandeep Kumar won the gold medal in the compound team event before picking up the individual silver medal at the Gyeyang Asiad Archery Field.Men's squash team led by Saurav Ghosal won the gold medal in the team event while the women's team of Dipika Pallikal, Anaka Alankamony and Joshana Chinappa won the silver medal.28-September29-SeptemberCurrent Affairs Global - 29 September 2014

World Heart Day is observed today (29th September) across the world to raise awareness that heart disease and stroke are the world-s leading causes of death.

World Heart Day was founded in 2000 to educate people globally about the dangers of heart disease and stroke. Theme of 2014 is -Creating heart-healthy environments- which revolves around, taking a look at places around our work, home and play that increase our risk of heart disease.

Ashraf Ghani was sworn in Monday as Afghanistan's President today which is also the country's first peaceful democratic transition of power. He assumed charge after signinga power-sharing deallast week with his rival presidential candidate, Abdullah Abdullah.

He succeeds Hamid Karzai, who has spent 13 years as President of Afghanistan after Taliban rule.

China-s e-commerce giant Alibaba, which has recently marked its biggest IPO debut in NYSE, has received approval from Chinese Central bank authority to set up a private bank in order to diversify its business into financial services. Alibaba is the latest company outside the financial sphere to win approval to start a bank in China.

Alibaba, through its subsidiary Zhejiang Ant Small and Micro Financial Services Group Co, will hold 30% of share capital of the new bank, as per the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

Europe has retained Golf's Ryder Cup after defeating the United States today. This is Europe-s eight victory in last 10 events of Ryder cup.The 12 man European team secured an easy win after finishing ahead 16 1/2 to 11 1/2 over USA team.

Current Affairs India - 29 September 2014

AIADMK leader O.Panneerselvam was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu by the Tamilnadu Governor Dr. K.Rosaiah as AIADMK Supremo Ms. Jayalalithaa had to resign as Chief Minister following her conviction in an 18-year old DA case by the Special court on Saturday.

Meanwhile, J Jayalalitha-s lawyers filed an appeal before the Karnataka High court today for seeking bail. Earlier she was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment and a fine of 100 crore rupees for amassing disproportionate assets of over 66 crore rupees beyond her source of income.

Justice Handyala Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu was sworn-in as the new and 42ndChief Justice of India on Sunday (28thSeptember) and he was administered oath of office by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhawan. He succeeds Chief Justice R M Lodha who retired on 27th September after attaining retirement age.

Delhi Metro has been ranked at 2ndplace among 18 international Metro systems in terms of overall customer satisfaction, as per an online customer survey result published recently.The survey conducted among the commuters of those Metro systems by Global Metro Benchmarking Groups NOVA and CoMET in which Delhi Metro along with London DLR and Bangkok were the best three performers in the Net Promoters Score (NPS) category.

Japanese electronics firm Casio has roped in Oscar winning music composer and singer director A R Rahman as brand ambassador for its electronic musical instruments division. It will help the Indian arm, Casio India to expand business in India and change its image as a high quality keyboard maker.

Indian tennis player Leander Paes won the ATP Malaysian Open title along with his new partner Marcin Matkowski after defeating second seeded Jamie Murray and John Peers by 3-6 7-6 10-5 in the final match at Kuala Lumpur today. It was his first title of the season.

Seema Poonia threw 61.03 meters to win the gold while her sister, Krishna Poonia finished fourth in the same event. Sania Mirza and Saketh Myneni defeated Chinese Taipei pair by 6-4, 6-3 in the final match of the mixed doubles. Sanam Singh and Saketh Myneni won silver medal in men-s doubles event and they lost to Korean pair by 5-7, 6-7 in final. Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare pair also won a bronze medal in Women-s doubles event after losing to Chinese Taipei-s Chin Wei Chan and Su Wei Hsiehin in the Asian Games yesterday.Indian wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt won gold medal in the men-s freestyle 65kg category in the Asian Games yesterday, thus ending India-s 28-year-old wait for a wrestling gold medal in the Asian Games.Khushbir Kaur became the first Indian woman to win a medal in race walking in the Asian Games yesterday after she won silver medal in 20km event on the second day of the athletics competition.30-SeptemberCurrent Affairs India - 30 September 2014

The Andhra Pradesh Government has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with global tech giant Google-s Indian arm for Digital AP project. As per the agreement, Google India will work with the AP government to get women and small and medium businesses online and help them gain from the internet economy.

The Reserve Bank of India, RBI relaxed KYC (Know Your Customer) norms further today by allowing self-certification of documents for opening bank accounts with immediate effect in order to help customers to open a bank account easily.The RBI has asked banks to accpet self-certified copy of the document by mail, or post for opening an account.

Also banks will not insist on physical presence of the customer at the time of periodic updating and they will not seek fresh proof of identity and address at the time of periodic updating in case of no change in status for 'low risk' customers. The RBI added that if the customers are unable to comply within a reasonable period of time, partial freezing may be introduced for KYC non-compliant customers.

India-s core sector, consisting of eight core industries, grew by 5.8% in August this year compared to 4.7% in the same month last year due to higher production output in coal, cement and electricity sectors.During April-August period of current financial year, the eight sector growth stood at 4.4% compared to 4.2% growth in the same period last year.

Output of coal, cement, steel and electricity sectors grew by 13.4%, 10.3%, 9.1% and 12.6% respectively, in the same month which pushed the core sector growth higher. The eight core sectors has a combined weight of approx. 38% in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and this good core sector growth will improve IIP number for the same month as well.

AutoPortal Cardekho.com has acquired another car information related portal Gaadi.com for nearly USD 11 million as a part of consolidation in the online car information or classified sector.This combined entity will be the biggest one in the sector.

Post this acquisition, both the companies will operate independently and as separate businesses in order to drive focus, especially in the pre-owned car business.

Global FMCG giant Unilever-s Chief Operating Officer Harish Manwani will retire on 31stDecember this year after completing 38 years of service in the company. Manwani, who is also the first ever COO of Unilever, will continue as Non-Executive Chairman of Hindustan Unilever Ltd, the Indian arm of the FMCG giant.

RBI keeps repo rate unchanged at 8% during its monetary policy review; GDP growth projection kept unchanged at 5.5%The RBI Governor Dr Raghuram Rajan kept key policy rates unchanged today in his fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review. Repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends money to banks for the short term, was kept unchanged at 8% while the Reverse Repo Rate, the rate at which RBI borrows money from banks, was kept unchanged at 7%. The cash reserve ratio for banks has been kept unchanged at 4%. The reverse repo rate under the LAF will remain unchanged at 7% and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate have been kept unchanged at 9%.The RBI has also kept the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks unchanged at 22% of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL). Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) refers amount that the commercial banks require to maintain with the RBI in the form of gold or government approved securities (G-Secs or bonds) before lending. RBI has reduced the liquidity provided under the export credit refinance (ECR) facility from 32% of eligible export credit outstanding to 15% with effect from October 10.Reserve Bank Governor projected that inflation will moderate to acceptable level of 6%by January 2016 and maintained that the GDP growth in the current fiscal year at 5.5% which was projected in third bi-monthly monetary policy review as well.